More Stuff To Worry About

I have previously written about scams directed at Trademark applicants where the victims receive an official-looking letter asking for their credit card for "trademark monitoring services". http://tinyurl.com/q57nxn2. I also wrote about a scam letter that one of my corporate clients received designed to look like an official letter from the Tennessee Secretary of State imploring the corporation to spend unnecessary money http://tinyurl.com/pdtyqae.

            This  latest “opportunity” was reported to me by one of my clients last week.  I had just recorded a simple deed for this client.  She then received a letter from a company called Record Transfer Services from California which sought to charge $83.00 for a "complimentary correct grant deed" and a "property assessment profile".  To be fair,  the form letter also states "Record Transfer Services is not affiliated with the State of Tennessee or the County Recorder" and further states "This is not a bill.  This is a solicitation;  you are  under no obligation to pay the amount stated unless you accept the offer".

            The problem with this disclaimer of course is that most people don't actually read it.  And while the offer of a "complimentary current grant deed" and "property assessment profile" is perfectly legal, it is something that no one actually needs. 

            Lawyers are not immune to these things.  While I can spot a quasi-governmental flimflam a mile away I recently received a serious sounding  email relating to my website domain name and had to run it by my web guy before I was convinced that it was illegitimate. 

            If you receive something like this in the mail and you're unsure about it call a lawyer or a trusted adviser before you pull out your credit card.